


Love Bug

by rvdhoodlum



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Crush, Cuddling, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Pining, love bug au, second chapter bc im a sucker whoops, so much hand holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-15 09:59:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11803710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rvdhoodlum/pseuds/rvdhoodlum
Summary: Keith gets bit by a love bug and falls acts lovey-dovey around the first person he sees, who just so happens to be Lance. Based onartby @eyugho on tumblr





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this pretty quickly after being inspired by the art, so it's unbeta-ed and likely not error free. Because it's a stand alone fic, though, I hope you can enjoy it for what it is!
> 
> ***
> 
> edit 10/28/2018: I wrote this over a year ago. Looking back, I could barely reread it - there's so many things I would change, days of missing details I would write it, conflicts I would add, etc etc. 
> 
> Still, I don't regret writing it. I'm adding this edit mostly for me, but for everyone else who feels ashamed of their work sometimes, as a reminder to keep creating. I've published what I consider better fics, but this one is the most popular, and all the positive feedback has helped me to write more, better material, so maybe one day I'll be satisfied and feel I truly deserve all you wonderful readers.
> 
> With that, I'll leave you with the same thing younger-me said, which is I hope you can enjoy this fic for what it is! Thank you <3

It had started out simply enough. They’d landed on what Lance would have called “home,” if the thought of that weren’t too painful. Allura and Coran were on a diplomatic mission which didn’t require all the paladins, so she had cleared them to wander around the planet as long as they didn’t stray too far.

The planet really was like Earth, the best parts. They had landed right next to a body of water so giant he would have been tempted to call it an ocean, but the smell was less salt more earth, and the rhythm of the waves a gentle call rather than a commanding presence. Where there wasn’t water there were trees, and these were the things that reminded him that this wasn’t his home. They swayed gently in the wind and if you looked too closely they’d seem to shimmer like heat waves rising off hot pavement.

Still, the place was friendly enough, and so the paladins, at Lance’s urging, had decided to take a break and go swimming.

Most of the paladins, anyway. “Keith!” Lance floated on his back and kicked towards the shore. “Get in!”

“I’m not in the mood to get wet.”

“Why? Afraid you’ll ruin your hair?”

“Keith, I swear to you,” Pidge said, emerging from underwater, “I will get out of this alien sea and build a water canon _just for you_.”

Keith evidently didn’t think Pidge was messing around, because he took off his shirt and tossed it to the ground. To the casual observer he might have seemed reluctant, but Lance was pretty sure Keith was looking forward to swimming. After all, he’d wanted to at least once during their space trip and, to the best of his knowledge, had never gotten to.

“Woo hOO!” Lance shouted, plunging underwater and jumping back out again in triumph.

Keith gave him a weird side glance while making his way to the edge of the water. He dipped his toe in suspiciously, then back out again. “It’s cold.”

“Alright, I’ve had enough.” Keith looked over in surprise at none other than Hunk, who was coming out of the water towards him. “Hunk, are you doing what I think you’re doing? Hunk? Hunk!”

Hunk had not been dissuaded by Keith’s pleas and had grabbed him in a bear hug from behind while Keith kicked helplessly into air. Pidge and Lance were giggling from the water.

“That’s what you get!” said Pidge.

“Let me _down_ ,” said Keith, still flailing.

“Your call.” There was a splash as Hunk dropped Keith, who fell into the water still squirming. He emerged to more splash attacks, but even though there was probably water in his eyes, ears, and mouth, he was grinning unmistakably.

The paladins fooled around in the water for a while, but eventually the fun had to end when Allura and Coran’s visit was over. Universe to save, and all that. They all trudged out of the water and dried off, savoring their last moments on this planet so much like Earth outside the castle.

Lance focused on the sea. He missed the ocean, _his_ ocean, and this wasn’t quite the same, but god, it was so familiar nonetheless. There was the sense of eyes on the back of his neck, and he turned around to see Keith staring unabashedly at him. Their eyes met and Keith gave him a small smile that crinkled his eyes, and Lance turned his head away rather quickly, thinking to himself that the reason was he wanted to savor the sea and not that he was trying to hide a blush.

“Paladins,” Allura called, inevitably ending the brief vacation. Reluctantly, they picked up their shirts from the ground that they had dropped before swimming.

That’s when things became less simple, because Keith, apparently, had other ideas.

“Keith, buddy,” Lance said, walking up behind him. “I’m pretty sure you have the wrong shirt.”

“Do I?” There was something foreign about that tone of voice, like everything that had been rough around the edges was smoothed out in those two words.

“Yeah, last time I checked.” Keith didn’t turn around, just finished pulling the shirt over his head and strolled towards the castle.

“Fine!” Lance said. “Then I guess I’ll have to wear _your_ shirt.” He hurried after him clumsily, shirt over his eyes. Keith briefly turned around to give Lance an _infuriating_ smirk but never broke his stride. Lance took a few longer steps and put his hand on Keith’s shoulder, this time causing him to stop in his tracks so quickly that Lance almost knocked them both to the ground.

“Look,” said Keith, not even turning around. “If you want the shirt so badly you should take it from me.”

Keith put his hand on Lance’s and slowly moved it to his hip while reaching behind to grab Lance’s other hand to do the same. He curled his fingers around Lance’s and brought them under one corner of the shirt, casually lifting it, letting Lance’s fingers graze his skin.

From behind them came a muffled giggle, like a slap in the face throwing Lance back into reality. He snatched his hands back and held them near his chest, wringing them. Keith finally turned around to face him, staring Lance dead in the eyes with a puppy dog look. Lance couldn’t get his voice to work, hell, couldn’t get his brain to work, as it was too busy rebooting. Did Keith _know_? Did someone tell him that if he flirted he would definitely break Lance? Was this all a big joke?

His own tongue feeling too foreign in his mouth to manage distinguishable sounds.“Ahh.. uhh-what?” he finally managed.

Keith gave him one last playful smile before turning away, leaving Lance struggling to regain control of his mind, standing in a place that made him feel so happy, but was just a little off in apparently every way.

***

“What?!” Lance exclaimed. “You can’t be serious!”

“Chill,” said Pidge, sparing him a glance away from her intense examination of the creature. “The love bug bite will wear off in a few days.”

“It’s quite harmless,” Allura quipped, looking to Lance as though she was internally fending off a fit of laughter.

Lance walked towards them, which was rather difficult considering he had Keith clinging to his back like a lifeline. “Easy for you to say. You don’t have this leach stuck to your back.”

“Be nice,” Allura chided, before turning away to join Pidge in her curious study of the love bug.

“Ugh!” Lance said, staggering past them to get anywhere but here.

“Did I ever tell you what a pretty name Lance was?” Keith said snuggling his chin into the crook of Lance’s shoulder, and Lance’s cheeks turned more red than he thought was humanly possible. He walked faster, until the laughter Pidge and Allura hadn’t bothered to conceal this time was nothing but an echo.

When he was safely out of earshot Lance craned his neck around to look at Keith. “Do you mind?”

Keith blinked up at him innocently. “Mind what?”

Lance sighed. He was exhausted and, if he was being honest, what he really needed right now was to be alone his room, in the dark, so that he could cry in peace. Even so, he couldn’t bring himself to yell at Keith.

“It’s kind of hard to walk with you on my back like that,” he opted for instead. “Would it work for you if we held hands?”

Keith happily untangled himself from Lance’s back and grabbed his hand instead. “Sure!”

The two of them walked through the castle in relative silence, their footsteps echoing in the emptiness. Keith seemed fine with all of this; he actually seemed to be enjoying Lance’s company and was happy with nothing more, as long as he could rest his head on Lance’s arm, of course. In the back of his mind, Lance wondered where the ultra flirty beach Keith had gone and if he would be making a surprise return, but he was too preoccupied with the fact that he was holding hands with _Keith-fucking-Kogane_ to dwell on it.His hands were gentler than he’d expected. Calloused but warm and comforting; not too tight a grip unless he felt Lance slipping and subtly squeezed him a little more.

Lance wasn’t really sure of where he was going until they ended up on the training deck. This could actually work out perfectly, if he played it right.

“Keith, buddy? Do you think you could let go of my hand and we could train together?”

“Sure!” Wow, this was easier than Lance thought it would be. Keith seemed content to do whatever Lance asked, as long as they were together.

Lance started the simulation and they fell back into silence, although this time it felt more comfortable. They stayed back to back the entire time and progressed smoothly, better than even with the rest of the team. He felt like he was in a trance; logically, he knew that this wasn’t organic, but even so, it felt so smooth, so right. He and Keith moved like a well oiled machine who had been teaming up for years. He briefly wondered if they would keep doing this after the love bug bite wore off, but again quickly dismissed the thought. Lance and Keith were friends, sure, and they’d gotten closer, but that didn’t mean they’d be anything more. In fact, after this, Lance wasn’t sure either of them would want to look each other in the eyes again.

“I think we should stop,” said Lance, panting a little. He walked over to the wall and leaned against it, tilting his head back and closing his eyes.

“Alright,” Keith said, turning off the simulation before it started another level of training. “What do you want to do now?”

“I think I’m going to take a break and relax.”

“Relaxing sounds nice,” said Keith, his breath tickling Lance’s ear.

Lance’s opened his eyes, startled, and jolted his head so suddenly that he narrowly avoided smashing Keith’s skull against his. Keith was inches from him. Keith had him pinned to the wall. Oh my god, _Keith_ had him _pinned to the wall_.

“You have such pretty eyes,” Keith breathed. He put his right hand gently on top of Lance’s and rubbed it with his thumb. Lance could feel a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead. Keith must think he was so gross right now. No! Was he crazy, that’s what he was worried about? Keith didn’t care in the slightest; he was leaning into Lance, eyes never leaving his own, closing, slowly, their noses were touching -

“ _Stop_!” Lance regained control of his body again, and not a second too late. Keith would have kissed him and in a few days he would have come back to real life and never forgiven him, and Lance didn’t want to lose him. He’d rather keep Keith as just a friend than face a world where he genuinely hated him and couldn’t trust him. Keith wasn’t himself, and Lance would never take advantage of that.

“What? Was I doing something wrong?” Keith bit his bottom lip, and Lance lost it.

He pushed passed him roughly. “Don’t talk to me.”

“Lance,” Keith cooed. “Don’t be that way! We can take it slow. Come cuddle with me.”

“Cuddle?! Are you serious? We aren't dating. You don’t even like me like that!”

“Lance, why would you say that?”

“Because you _don’t_! And I like you, okay? And I know that you don’t like me back, and that you don’t mean all this lovey-dovey stuff you’ve been saying! I know! And I also know that it’s not your fault you got bitten by a fucking hormone bug or some shit, but _god_ , do you think that makes it hurt less?”

Keith was in a state of shock, tears running down his face and making no attempt to conceal it. “If you like me, then why would you say that?”

Keith’s face became blurred and hard to see, or maybe that was just Lance’s eyes tearing up. “Because only one of us is thinking straight, and it hurts too much to preserve your feelings by indulging them. Goodbye, Keith.”

Lance ran down the hall. He heard footsteps following him and knew that Keith physically couldn’t resist chasing him, so he hit a button to shut a door in his way, kept running, and didn’t look back.

***

There was a knock on the door and Lance reluctantly dragged himself out of bed to answer it, eyes half closed and trained towards the floor. He stumbled over piles of dirty clothes that had been lying there for three days now since he'd locked himself in his room. “Hey, Hunk, you’re early.”

“Hey.” Lance froze but forced himself to look at Keith. He kept his gaze trained on his forehead, pretending he could see straight through him.

“Is it actually you?”

“It’s me.”

Lance knew he was telling the truth, something about his voice and how it was rougher than it was before, and somehow that was so much more painful. He felt his head start to pound as his throat closed up and he moved to close the door. “I think you should go.”

Keith caught his arm and Lance froze. Why did he always freeze up? He used to be fine around Keith, it’s not like this crush was anything new, so why did what was basically a brainwashing incident matter?

“Can we talk?”

“Not much to say,” Lance mumbled.

“Lance, it’s fuzzy, but I remember what happened.”

Lance’s stomach was struggling to escape via his throat.“You remember?”

“Like I said, it’s a little blurry, but I remember you told me how you felt.” Keith’s hand had somehow moved down Lance’s arm and into his palm. Still calloused yet tender. Why was he so good at hand holding, even now? How was that fair?

“Lance.” Keith’s breath was on his chin. He smelled like metal and mint leaves. “I-I feel the same way. The love bug, it didn’t get it all right, but it brought out feelings that were already there. I just didn’t want to say it.”

“And you’re sure this is _you_ talking?”

Keith squeezed his hand and held it tightly. “Lance, can I kiss you?”

There were so many thoughts floating around in Lance’s head, and so many things he wanted Keith to know, but they didn’t really matter to this moment in time. Ultimately, they all added up to the same feeling, and at this very moment all Lance wanted to do was let Keith feel it too.

Lance squeezed his hand back. “Yes.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There might have been more to the story than Lance was telling...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I left this work alone for a while, but decided that there was more to do with it and that I would be happier filling in some gaps. I was going to make it one big chapter, but tbh I didn't like the second half, so that's going to be rewritten and posted in the next few days when I get enough time. In the meantime, enjoy!

“So Lance,” said Hunk, rummaging around the kitchen in search of a clean spoon. “Are you ever going to tell me about what happened between you and Keith?”

“Nothing to tell,” Lance said, or at least that’s what Hunk was able to interpret, as Lance was talking through a mouthful of food. He noticed the look on Hunk’s face and (wisely) chose to swallowed before continuing. “He got bitten by that parasite, we had a nice chat after, and now we’re going steady sans goo-goo eyes and generally crazy behavior. Spoons are all in the sink, by the way.”

“How many times do I have to ask you guys to _do your own damn dishes_ ,” Hunk lamented.

Lance indignantly shrugged. “Hey, don’t look at me! I do all _my_ own dishes! I’m a saint!” He pointed at himself with a spoon emphatically.

“Sure, and I’m working with the Galra empire. You should really tell that boyfriend of yours to do his dishes too or I’m going to kick his ass.”

“Now that you’ve said that I might not; that’s a fight I’d pay to see.”

“I take it back! I don’t want to fight Keith,” Hunk said, mildly concerned. “But more to the point.”

Hunk had finished washing himself a spoon and was returning to sit by Lance, pointing it at him accusingly. “You know that’s not the whole truth.”

“So what if it isn’t?” Lance hoped, pointlessly, that Hunk couldn’t see the blush growing on his cheeks. He was finding it difficult to hide his emotions nowadays. Goddamn Keith and his charms, because Lance had fallen so hard.

“So _spill_. What, you can’t tell your best friend?”

Lance sighed. “There’s a _chance_ I left a few details out.”

  
***

  
Lance had left his room at what would be the equivalent of sometime past midnight if they were back on Earth. He did this more often than he cared to admit, and he knew that the others did too; it was more than once he had to carry Pidge to bed, or bring Hunk a blanket, or, a couple of times, coax Allura into sleeping. Even after all the time they’d been here, space was strange and foreign, but something about being nearer to the stars made Lance feel less alone.

Unfortunately for him, someone else must have been feeling the same way tonight, because his little nook next to the sky was already occupied. Lance turned around as quietly as possible, not wanting to risk being spotted and having to justify running away from Keith earlier that day and locking himself in his room. Alas, his creeping skills were not enough, because the occupant turned around not a second after Lance had begun his retreat.

“Hello?”

 _Shit shit shitshitshit_ , cried everyone one of Lance’s instincts, rendering him stunned.

“I know you’re there.”

He was frozen like a deer in the headlights. He wanted so desperately to retreat, but he couldn’t move, and the time for running like hell and pretending he was never there had passed. This is what he got for leaving his room. Knowing he had been caught, Lance reluctantly walked forward into Keith’s line of sight.  
Keith recoiled at the sight of him, retreating almost entirely under the blanket he must have brought with him, and Lance immediately felt all the repressed guilt course through his entire body. None of this was fair, not to either of them.

“Hey, Keith.” Lance didn’t know how to say anything more innocuous than that, but apparently even those two words were too much for Keith, who burst into tears.

“I-I’m sorry, Lance, I didn’t mean - I never wanted - I just _can’t_ -”

 He felt all the blood drain from his body. The sight of Keith so freely crying was so viscerally _wrong_ , yet Lance couldn't bring himself to be more mad at the psychedelic bug venom. It didn't matter that the bug bit him; Keith didn't like people to see him so emotional and it was Lance who made him so upset in an already weakened state. He knew, so his fault.

“Woah, slow down. What do you have to be sorry for?”

Keith turned his head away and Lance could hardly see the side of his face through his hair. “I messed up.”

Lance’s stomach tied itself in knots. “If anything, I should be the one apologizing.”

“Why? I made you uncomfortable. I made you _mad_.”

He didn’t know where to go from here. Lance knew he wasn’t wrong; this wasn’t really Keith, and he didn’t want to indulge him only to lose his friendship when he woke up. On the other hand, something of Keith was still in there, and Lance was hurting him. Keith had no idea what he did wrong and would probably be miserable for days if Lance didn’t do _something_.

“I’m sorry. I would explain to you why I was mad, but you won’t understand.”

“What won’t I understand?”

“Keith…”

“Lance, I just want to _help_. What did I do wrong? You said you liked me, but then why do I make you so angry?”

Lance didn’t know how to answer that both truthfully and without upsetting him more, so he said; “Nothing, buddy, don’t worry about it. It was my fault for being snappy. It’s been a long day,” and left it at that.

There was another period of silence that any other day he might enjoy, but he had a feeling that it was suffocating Keith. Lance exhaled deeply and took a step towards him. “Do you mind if I sit next to you?”

Keith was still crying slightly, but evidently in his enamored state he still wanted to be near Lance, no matter how upset he was. He nodded. Lance sat parallel to him with his back against the wall.

“I might need some time to be alone for the next few days.”

Keith bit his lip, fighting to hold back another wave of tears, so Lance continued quickly. “It’s not personal; you didn’t do anything wrong. Oh god, please don’t cry,” he added under his breath. He was so weak to Keith’s puppy dog eyes; thank everything that was holy he never used them on Lance when he was acting like himself.

“If you want, though, I can visit you? Or you can visit me?” Keith nodded again. What the hell was Lance doing? He couldn’t deal with Keith coming anywhere near him until the bug venom had run its course. But, alas, the sight of him this upset was too much. So much for just staying in his room.

“But you have to respect my personal space. Got it?” Lance added, as almost a hail Mary that in trying to not break Keith’s warped heart he could still keep his own safe. Keith nodded a third time, then moved as though he was going in for a hug but thought better of it. This should be a good sign, but honestly, it just made Lance sad. He looked too much like a puppy who had been hit after trying to express affection.

“Keith,” Lance sighed. “Did you want to hug me?”

“Yes,” said Keith hoarsely, letting his hair fall over his eyes. He was definitely embarrassed, but clearly not enough to be mad at Lance, not with that good old love bug poison coursing through him.

“It’s ok. We’re cool.” said Lance. “You can come over and cuddle if you want.”

Keith, despite having just been clearly distraught, visibly brightened and leaned backwards into Lance. He wriggled until he fit just right, close to the edge of the space window with Lance spooning him, pulling him down so that they were both laying down on the ledge. Keith felt behind him until he found Lance’s arm and draped it over himself, and also adjusted his blanket so that it covered both of them a little above their legs. He snuggled his head backwards until his head rested just under Lance’s chin and breathed a little sigh of pure content.

Lance, in spite of himself, resisted the urge to laugh as Keith’s hair tickled his neck. He smelled really good, actually; was there special space shampoo no one had told Lance about? At first his heart raced out of control, but he forced himself to breathe steadily and found that he enjoyed this, in a weird way. He was no stranger to cuddling, what with his huge family and generally touchy demeanor as a way of displaying affection, and lately, space travel had had him touch-starved.

It was… nice. A change of pace. A little worse when he remembered that Keith only let him get this close because of the love bug, but even so he felt a little guilty pleasure at winning Keith over and getting to snuggle with his rather aloof friend.

 _This isn't really like him_ , Lance's internal thoughts lectured him. _It changes his personality_.

 _I know_ , Lance told himself. _I know. But this can't be worse than anything else that's happened. And, always be kind, right? It can never hurt.  
_

He was so relaxed that he almost fell asleep, but luckily Lance was just the right amount on edge to keep his eyes on the stars until Keith’s breath had fallen into a rhythm indicating that he was definitely out like a light. Lance carefully untangled himself from the cuddly lump and pulled the rest of the blanket over Keith (who shifted to hug it and made Lance’s heart skip a beat), then made the walk carefully back to his own room. It felt inexplicably warmer than before, and this time Lance was able to fall asleep after just a few doboshes (minutes), the million thoughts that had been buzzing around his head fading into dreams of absolutely nothing.

  
***

  
“HA!” Hunk pointed at Lance with his spoon triumphantly. “I knew there was more to the story!”

“Yeah, well,” said Lance, getting up to wash his dishes. And no, it was not just so that Hunk wouldn’t see him blushing. Of _course_ not. “It’s not like you missed much; I saw him and we made up. End of story.”

Hunk got up too and stood next to Lance, who struggled to not turn his head away and keep a straight face. He leaned in so close their noses almost touched, making sure there was no way Lance _couldn't_ see him, and wiggled his eyebrows. “Did you keep your promise?”

“What promise?”

“You know, the one where you told him that he could visit you, mister locked-himself-in-a-room-for-three-days-to- _avoid_ -Keith?”

“Dude, you know I only said that to make him stop looking at me so sad.”

“C’mon, if you couldn’t resist puppy dog eyes then, there’s no way you could say no when he came back the next day.”

“I don’t know _what_ you’re talking about,” Lance said, finishing washing the dishes as quickly as humanly possible so he could get out of there. He did turn back as he left, though, and Hunk could have _sworn_ he saw him wink before rounding the corner. Than _sneaky_ son of a bitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really going to try and push for the last chapter to be out within the week. It should be longer and have a healthy dose of flustered Lance and he struggles with Keith's new flirty demeanor, now in secret! (lol sorry i amused myself reading that like an add)
> 
> Anyone who's stuck around or reads this; I'm grateful for you reading and for any feedback (and i know i didn't say i'd be updating so if you're still here from the first chapter, hi! thanks!)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith go on an actual date (in secret, of course)! This chapter takes place right after the night depicted in chapter 2 and is an extension of the untold story in between when Lance locked himself in his room and when the love bug wore off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! The last chapter, and out early, no less! (I forgot I’m going away for a few days so I didn’t want it to be late.) It’s a little longer than I planned for it to be, but I’m going to take it as a good thing, as it includes both flustered Lance and what is almost a normal date? Anyway, please enjoy the final installment of this fanart induced writing spree!

There had been a knock on Lance’s door too early in the morning, regardless of the fact that there was technically no morning and night if they weren’t on a planet. He rolled over on his stomach and covered his ears with a pillow; that would teach him to go to sleep without his headphones.

“Lance!” More knocking. “Lance? Are you up?”

“I guess I am now,” Lance muttered, trudging to the door with his blanket still wrapped around him.

 _Immediately_ , Keith practically lunged at Lance, trying to pull him out the door. “Lance! Allura says we get the day off, and since we’re super close to an alien mall, we get to go! Let’s go on a date!”

Lance rubbed his eyes, not entirely sure he wasn’t dreaming. “A what-now?”

“A date!” Huh. So much for distance and their talk last night about personal space. Keith’s muddled brain was _not_ going to let go of the idea of dating Lance.

“Sure, I’d like to hang out with you,” Lance said carefully, though Keith didn’t seem to notice his choice of words.

“Great! I want to bring you to a knife vendor; the guy last time was a real ass, but-”

“Shh!” Lance interrupted, grabbing Keith by the shirt and pulling him into his room, shutting the door behind him

“What-”

“ _Shh_!” He put his hand over Keith’s mouth.

_Clunk, clunk, clunk_

The footsteps stopped outside the door.

“Lance? Can I come in?”

“Kind of a bad time, Hunk.”

“Oh, ok,” Hunk said. “Well, the rest of us are going to the mall if you want to join.”

“Nah, I think I’ll hole up in here.”

“Ah. The Keith situation. You know, I’m free to talk any time. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but everyone else is too, even if they have been fooling around.”

Lance swallowed the lump in his throat. The unspoken implication that word of his outburst had gotten around stung. Everyone knew he liked Keith except, funnily enough, Keith, with his brain made of mush.

“Thanks, Hunk, but I’m ok,” he managed. “It’s no big deal.” It was a very big deal.

Hunk was not convinced. “If you say so. We’re here for you, though. Are you sure you’re not up for a trip out?”

“Is Keith coming?”

“If we can drag him away from you. It took us over a varga to get him to leave your door last night.” Lance remembered. Vividly.

“I’m still going to half to pass on this one. I need the beauty sleep anyway,” he joked, and could hear the lie in every syllable.

Lance could hear a faint chuckle. “Bye, Lance. I’ll see you later.” The footsteps retreated and he heaved a sigh of relief.

“Ahem,” Keith cleared his throat.

“Gah!”

Lance stumbled back a few feet. He was so afraid of Hunk finding out Keith was in his room that he’d completely forgotten he was holding one hand over Keith’s mouth and the other on his shirt.

“So it’s not ok when I pin you to a wall, but it’s fine when you do it?” said Keith.

“Shit, man, I’m sorry,” Lance started, but Keith laughed.

“Relax, I’m only teasing. I like being near you. But can I ask.” He tilted his head to the side and Lance’s heart may have skipped a beat. “Why did you need to hide me?”

“I, um, I’m not embarrassed of you, if that’s what you think,” Lance said, and Keith looked instantly relieved, though still puzzled. “I like you, but I’m shy? And the thing with the personal space we talked about. And everyone knows I yelled at you yesterday and sort of assume I want to be alone right now, so I don’t want them to know I lied.”

That sounded like plausible half-truth, right? He hoped so. It’s not like he could convince the drunk-on-love-bug paladin that he wasn’t himself; it was like trying to sober up a goo-goo eyed brick wall.

Keith put his hand on Lance’s shoulder and squeezed. “You’re the least shy person I know, and I make you shy? I’m flattered! It’s all alright, Lance; as long as I get to be with you we can keep it a secret, for now.”

And then Keith winked. _Winked_ , and said, “That just means more of you for me.”

 _You’d think a guy would get used to being flirted with_ , Lance thought vaguely as he had another mini heart attack.

He brushed it off. “Why don’t you go back to your room? I’ll pick you up after I get changed.”

“Can’t I just stay here?”

“Um, I don’t think - um, no.”

“Relax,” Keith laughed, and leaned up to kiss Lance on the cheek. He strutted out the door and vanished for less than a tick before grabbing onto the door frame and leaning back in. “I’ll see you in a few for our _date_!”

Lance made a strangled, high pitched noise; whatever words he was going to say had been brutally murdered midway up his throat. He sat down and stood up twice before he remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

After he got dressed, Lance hastily scrawled a note (“Sleeping. Do not disturb!”) and stuck it on his door. He made it to Keith’s room unseen and knocked.

Keith immediately opened it, as though he’d been standing in front of a closed door the entire time. Honestly, he probably had been.

“Ready?” said Keith, offering his arm to Lance.

Lance held one hand dramatically over his heart, but linked the other in Keith’s. “What a _gentleman_.”

“I try and keep chivalry alive,” he responded, and Lance laughed. He liked this side of Keith, the unabashedly playful side. He wished that Keith'd let himself have this type of fun more often.

“You have me to help.”

“You? Chivalrous? I think not.”

“Hey!” Lance punched Keith lightly in the arm. “For that, I think you don’t get to walk with me.”

Keith raised his eyebrow. “Try me,” and lunged for Lance’s arm and held it in a death grip.

Lance attempted to wiggle free, but Keith was not giving in. He likely would have lost the battle if not for the almost fortunate arrival of Allura.

He maneuvered quickly to another room at the sound of footsteps, dragging Keith with him.

“Let’s continue this fight later, ok?” he whispered as he watched Allura walk away. “I want to actually get to the mall.”

Keith nodded in agreement and was content to hold hands on their way to Red - the others had already left in Yellow - and only let go to make sure he was piloting safely. Once they landed, however, Keith happily resume their hand holding. It was unavoidable.

“So, where do you want to go first?”

“Let’s see if we can find some weapons. I want to know more about all this space tech.”

“Weirdly violent for a love-sick fellow, aren’t you?” Lance muttered. Thankfully, the comment went unnoticed by Keith.

They spend a generous amount of time at a knife-centric kiosk, where Keith haggled with the vendor while resolutely holding onto Lance’s hand. He was only dissuaded by the fact that they a) had brought no money and b) there was a bookstore across from them.

“You like books?” Lance had asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” said Keith, like it was obvious. “I spent a lot of time alone, after I… left the Garrison. It gets lonely. Books helped keep me afloat.”

In retrospect, Lance shouldn’t have been surprised. He would internally beat himself up for being so ignorant if he hadn’t been floored by the fact that Keith revealed something pretty personal about himself. It wasn’t flirting; it really didn’t seem to have anything to do with the bug. For a moment, he had been just Keith, being open with Lance, and it felt nice.

They spent a decent amount of time in the bookstore too. A frankly scary amount of the titles featured ways to brutally murder various species of alien (all hopefully non-sentient). There were other interesting ones not combat centered; the books that would be like boring almanacs on Earth, here fascinatingly depicted the basics of hundreds of other worlds. Then there were the normal novel books, whose plots sometimes revolved around folktales they knew nothing about, and often featured very diverse protagonists of many different species. (That’s the good thing about the intergalactic life; diversity was everywhere, and it seemed to be encouraged.)

Lance ended up in the cheesy joke book section, but he found that he understood 0% of the punchlines. It was a customs barrier rather than a language one; most of the books had a cool feature that allowed you to set it to virtually any known language, which baffled and fascinated him to no end. He’d have to ask Coran how the technology worked, or Pidge and Hunk - they’d love analysing this stuff.

Alas, their money problem was still just that, so they left the bookstore empty handed. Both of them were dejected and not up for chatter, which posed another problem, as Keith seemed to see a lack of conversation as an invitation for physical contact. He was getting dangerously touchy; his hand snaked around Lance’s waist and settled there possessively. Time for a diversion.

“If the lions weren’t lions, what animal would you want them to be?” Lance asked, swiveling around to face Keith and to try and shake off his arm. “I think sharks would be cool. Like the opposite of a land shark!” He started talking in singsong; “It’s a Space-Shark. It’s a shark. That’s in. Space!”

Keith looked at him, bewildered.

“C’mon!” Lance said indignantly. “You’ve never browsed around old YouTube? It’s from a video. I’ll put it on the list of things to show you when we get back.”

“You have a list?”

“No, but I really should,” Lance huffed, but realize, surprisingly, it was true. There were a lot of references Keith looked to him to explain, and it would actually be fun to give him a crash course on, well, everything.

“Anyway, what animal would you pick?”

“Oh, definitely a hippo?”

“A - a _hippo_?!” Lance wheezed.

“What’s wrong with that? They’re strong, capable animals. They’re also cute, unlike sharks.”  
Lance was too busy laughing to dignify that with a response. Whenever he tried to form words, the only thought that came to mind was of of a fucking _space hippo_. And _Keith_ thought that they were _cute._ _HIPPOS_.

Keith pouted until he finally caught his breath. “Ok, first of all, back off of sharks. They’re perfect in every way, and I _will_ fight you on that. I just can’t believe you, Keith Kogane, are so attached to hippos,” he snickered.

“Mock me at your peril,” Keith retorted. “I have the solution to both our problems.”

“Which would be… ?”

“A challenge. Whoever can scrape up the most money has to admit that the other’s animal is better, and aso has to buy the other an apology present.”

“Oh, you’re so on,” said Lance, already dashing away to where he knew he’d seen a fountain before. He called over his shoulder, “And no copying me!”

He fished around in the fountain and gathered a considerable amount of money, and without being caught. Pidge would be proud; they could buy more than one game with this money if she were here, that was how much he had collected. He climbed out the fountain after only a few doboshes, and walked over dripping wet and beaming towards Keith, who was sitting on a bench looking unperturbed.

“You think you can beat that?”

“Shiro!” he called in response, and Lance looked around, confused.

“Shiro? Um, I’m Lance?”

Keith smirked at him and stood up, looking down the stretch of stores. “Shiro!” he said, louder.

“ _Shit_!” Lance made a dive for the nearest store, hiding behind a display of odd plants. A salesperson looked at him irritably, but thankfully didn’t kick him out.

“Can I borrow some money?” he heard Keith say to Shiro, who had jogged over to him, probably worried being away from Lance with the love bug stuff in his system was dangerous. It likely was, because he _hadn’t_ been away from Lance, but Shiro didn’t know that.

“I want to get a gift for Lance,” Keith continued. “I wanted to tell him I’m sorry, but I don’t have any money.”

“Are you sure that’s the best idea?”

“Shiro, _please_.”

There was a pause, then a sigh. “Fine,” Shiro said, and Lance could hear money being exchanged.

“Thank you!” Lance heard a thud and was pretty sure that the damn cheater was actually jumping for joy.

There was no more noise, but Lance waited behind the plant display just to be safe. After a few ticks, Keith walked in and greeted Lance with the cheekiest smile in all the universe.

“I win!”

“You win,” Lance admitted. “You cheated, but you win.”

“Technically, I didn’t cheat. It wasn’t against the rules. But you know what was in the rules?”

There was a long pause as they stared each other down.

“Hippos are better than sharks.” Lance was proud he could force it out; he even kept a semi-straight face.

Keith did a funny little celebratory hop. “I knew you’d come around! Let’s go shopping!”

The two paladins went back to the places that they hadn’t had the money for before. They finished their shopping and bought the small, ornate knife that Keith had been eyeing, a few books with built in translators, and a mini stuffed animal that looked enough like a hippo that Lance decided to buy it as his loser’s gift to Keith.

Keith sighed contently. “Thank you for such a good date.”

He leaned up and, before Lance could even process what was happening, gave him a peck on the lips. When Lance didn’t react, he tried to go in for another kiss, but was awkwardly deflected and ended up kissing Lance’s ear as he ducked.

Lance took a few jittery steps away from Keith, the floor offering no support for his legs, which had inexplicably turned to jelly. “You-you know what.”

“What?” Keith had recoiled and taken on a closed off stance, probably expecting to be yelled at just like the last time.

_I still love you, but for real. This hurts. You taste like mint. You can’t do this to me. Your lips are chapped; you should moisturize them. Under different circumstances, that ear kiss would be adorable. If I spend any more time with you I might die._

Lance said none of these things. He said, “We should get walkie-talkies.”

“What?”

“Walkie-talkies? You know, you press a button and talk into it, like a really limited phone? And it makes the ‘ _khhhhh’_ noise and you can go ‘ _over_ ’ when you’re done talking?”

“Walkie-talkies.”

“Yeah. This was kind of a one time thing, Keith,” Lance said, making sure not to break eye contact, “and I might not be able to see you for a few days. Why don’t we get the space equivalent of walkie-talkies so we aren’t using the castle’s tech and we’ll talk in private?”

“Oh.”

“We can read books with each other? I want to spend time with you, but,” he sighed. “It’s still complicated. Can you trust me?”

“Always.”

They walked around the mall in silence, letting the noise from business around them fill the space. When Keith inevitably brushed against Lance’s shoulder and grabbed his hand, Lance didn’t resist.

Surprisingly enough, walkie-talkies are just as popular a commodity in space as they are on Earth, which is to say not exceedingly difficult to find. They payed with the money they had stolen and swindled out of Shiro and added the walkie-talkies to their odd haul of books, a knife, and not-quite-a-hippo plush.

They made it back to the castle and and Lance dropped Keith off at his room before returning to his own without incident, like he’d never been gone. He took down the sign and locked the door. Lance knew that he meant what he had told Keith this time; he wouldn’t be seeing him, and to do that he wouldn’t be leaving the room. He fell onto his bed heavily and just laid there.

_Khhhhh_

_“Lance? Is this thing on? Hello?”_

_Khhhhh_

Lance let a smile grace his lips in spite of himself, and he rolled over and grabbed the walkie-talkie, clicking the button on the side. His life had turned upside down because of some stupid bug, and yet he had a feeling-

_Khhhhh_

_“Yeah, Keith. I’m here. Over.”_

_Khhhhh_

-everything was going to be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The landshark thing is from an old jennamarbles video my friend showed me years ago and it stuck out in my mind so google it if you want (i was gonna link it but ehhh) also i realize i changed the question from what animal they’d share a cryopod with to what would the lions be but it was a dumb question cRY ME A RIVER
> 
> On a nicer note, yay! The fic is done! I’m glad I decided to write more bc this chapter is the fluffiest and it was definitely fun to write and I really hope you enjoyed it too!


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